National Cancer Policy Board to be Establish

Sunday, December 1, 1996

Volume:

10

Issue:

12

A new 20-member National Cancer Policy Board (NCPB) is being set
up within the National Academy of Sciences. Just as we went to
press, it was announced that Peter Howley, chairman of pathology
at Harvard, had been named chairman and Joseph Simone of the Huntsman
Cancer Institute in Utah had been named vice-chairman. Bob Cook-Deegan,
the executive director of the NCPB, said that other members will
be appointed soon and the first meeting is scheduled for mid-February.
Joe Harford, associate director of special projects at the National
Cancer Institute, says the new Board hopes to provide a common
meeting ground for all interested in furthering cancer research
and treatment, including governmental bodies-- federal, state,
and local--and private organizations. The Board is not meant to
replace but rather supplement other advisory groups already in
existence. Its function will be to make recommendations on various
aspects of cancer policy. These might be issues such as how managed
care affects payment for patients in cancer clinical trials, or
the advisability of restrictions on tobacco advertising. The Board
may also lend its recommendations to various groups as to how
research monies might best be spent. Richard Klausner, Director
of the National Cancer Institute, has been an enthusiastic advocate
for the new Board, according to Harford. Of course, there already
is a three-member President's Cancer Panel. But its members are
presidential appointees, and the executive secretary is a member
of Klausner's office. The NCI will not have a representative on
the NCPB, Harford says. Susan Polan, director of government relations
for the American Cancer Society, says the ACS "supports the
idea of coordination of all agencies involved in the fight against
cancer."